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Introducing Dr. Toy's - SMART PLAY SMART TOYS
Ever have one of those books that is different than most others you have seen; a book which calls to your mind, developing a hunger for more of it and never getting enough? Dr. Toy's - SMART PLAY SMART TOYS is one of those books. It is not just a book about children and Play, it is in actuality about YOU! From the very start it envelopes you in its virtual arms, drawing you through exercises where you close your eyes and become a kid again. You discover yourself deep in thought as childhood memories come to life once again.
Just like a mystery novel where you are eager to discover more of the facts to find answers, or a Sci-fi book where your mind begins to envision the scenario of fantasy described in the book, you find yourself being drawn into the book completely. As you are reading Dr. Toy's - SMART PLAY SMART TOYS, you begin to feel a funny feeling, a soft memory of comfort and security, much as when your parents used to hold you in their arms when you were young. You feel safe, secure, and never getting enough. That's what Dr. Toy's - SMART PLAY SMART TOYS is all about in its own unique way.
As an added bonus, you begin to learn to understand your child's needs for play. Your buying experience with them at a store can evolve from a task to an enjoyable adventure as you maneuver through the metal jungle of store shelves, learning of unknown dangers, and seeking the hidden treasure your child is looking for...together.
A Learning Experience
I invite you to close your eyes and relax for a moment. In your mind you envision a person who comes to you with two simple questions for you to answer. The questions are: "Do you truly know the difference between the toys your child likes the best?" and "Do you know which of these toys are the SMARTEST toys to buy so that your child will have the most benefit from the safe experience of playing with them?" I would imagine that most people reading these questions would be unable to answer one, or even both of them without hesitation or inaccuracy. Don't feel discouraged though, this is a common factor for many parents in their lives today.
Dr. Toy, Stevanne Auerbach, Ph.D, has taken the answers to those questions as well as many more and merged them into her book, Dr. Toy's - SMART PLAY SMART TOYS. When reading this book, it will become a learning experience that won't stop upon completion of your reading, it holds an essence of influence that will continue on with you. When properly equipped with what you learn from this book, an entirely new perspective in life is created for you. It is a perspective which can change not just your own life, but that of your child's life forever.
Reclaiming Your Control and Influence
Society influences and dictates its pressures so that many parents today are both forced to work full-time and try to be a caregiver for their children, with what seems like no time left with which to do so. As you read Dr. Toy's - SMART PLAY SMART TOYS, you will learn to reclaim your control and influence on your family from society and the media, bringing the family core back into focus. You will essentially find a wealth of invaluable information to help you as a parent for your child's overall development. A brief summary of some of the features contained within this book are listed below;
- How to measure the PQ (Play Quotient) in a toy for your child.
- Understanding essential facts in reference to pros and cons in gender specific toys.
- Practical guidelines in your toy buying habits for specific age groups.
- Learning how to determine a toy's safety level; identifying "safe" toys.
- Professional guidance for "Gifted" and "Special-Needs" children.
A More Balanced Evaluation
In order to have a more balanced evaluation of "Dr. Toy's - SMART PLAY SMART TOYS", we called upon the labors of our Developmental Psychologist / Special Education Advocate, and Behavioral / Educational Psychologist and Attorney evaluators, to write their own reports on this book. Dr. Toy's - SMART PLAY SMART TOYS book covers what we see as an immense amount of specialized information that is best evaluated by these specialists in addition to our in-house staff.
In our report from the Developmental Psychologist / Special Education Advocate, she stated, "I am most impressed with the author's smooth progression with the various age groups featured, but even more so with her detailed source information in regard to Special Needs children." She continues on to say, "Many authors group these children into a singular group form of reference. This author however, has broken the multiple classes of definitions into a form which parents can more easily handle, yet maintaining the attention of a professional who works in that field."
From my own professional background in behavioral science, I must admit even I was quite impressed with the same points made by our evaluator. To add to the results of what we just covered, our Behavioral / Educational Psychologist and Attorney delivered a powerful and in-depth report as well, but to keep this summary within a reasonable size, I will feature just a couple of quotations from his report.
"Dr. Toy has created a book which empowers parents with good, solid, information and resource references. This book will enable them to have the power 'by choice' to influence a strong and productive evolution of their child's development." Further into his report, this evaluator makes note of how "Dr. Toy's - SMART PLAY SMART TOYS helps parents to realize and fully understand that the impact of their efforts has the potential to be far reaching with a positive impact, even into their child's adulthood."
Consumers Hands-On Product Evaluation
Reading our evaluation of a product is one thing, but reading what consumers who have actually had a hands-on experience with the product directly provides an entirely different perspective from which to make your buying decisions. In this case, the product is "Dr. Toy's - SMART PLAY SMART TOYS".
Consumers have no hesitation in telling you what they think of a product when given the opportunity. Are you ready to read what our consumer hands-on evaluation participants had to say?
Considering this was a book instead of a toy, we took a different approach in hands-on evaluation. We went to a local county library and a local mall, requesting parents to sit down for a one-hour period, (or longer if they desired), to read part of "Dr. Toy's - SMART PLAY SMART TOYS". It became evident in a relatively short period of time, that our own definition of the effect of this book upon a reader was all to accurate. (See first two sections of this product evaluation summary). Once a person sat down to read this book, the chances of them stopping anytime in their reading were slim to none!
Of course we were curious to discover the reason for this from a consumer's standpoint, so we inquired of each parent who was reading the book, what was so special about it, that they would become oblivious to everything else around them as they were reading the book. On mother in particular was extremely expressive in her response to our query. She said, "These exercises in the book are so different!" We were a bit lacking in definition of what she meant by that statement at first, but the woman soon resolved that. In her feedback form she wrote, "It was so moving to me when I followed one of the first exercises, just closed my eyes and began recalling memories of my childhood." "I could literally see my little pink dolly my grandmother made for me and I felt as though I was actually there again, holding my dolly close, smelling my mother's sweet perfume she always used."
Another mother pointed out in her feedback form, "There were so many resources outlined in that book which will help me with my son." "My son is a special needs child and there are times I want to just give up, yet after reading that book and seeing that my son is VERY special and I just need to understand this, helps me so greatly!"
With our new approach of videotaping all segments of our evaluations and seeing the physical and emotional responses from children and parents alike, we can now see so much more in our evaluations. This situation was yet another which touched the hearts of all of us as we watch the videos. We fail to realize how much of an impact a single product can possibly have upon an individual. The videos bring us back to reality and increase our sensitivity with our hands-on evaluation participants. They are now a very vital part of our evaluations. Dr. Toy's - SMART PLAY SMART TOYS book was a slam dunk positive in this part of our evaluation.
Your Opinion Counts
Your opinion counts whether you realize it or not. Maybe you were not one of the hands-on evaluation participants, but your opinion still counts all the same. We welcome you to share your opinions about this game or the product evaluation summary itself in our "Ask The Toy Man" Blog / Forum for others to see what you have to say.
A Breakdown On Each of the Category Scores Listed
While other organizations will define their ratings in a "blanket" method which simply defines each rating in an overall usage, we choose to take a different approach. Each individual rating that was assigned to this product, based upon our evaluation process, is briefly explained as to how that specific rating score was reached. The ratings for this product are listed below. Please remember that these are just six primary evaluation categories that are part of a far greater overall group of evaluation categories used for our product evaluation.
CONTENT QUALITY: Rating Level 5 - The content quality of Dr. Toy's - SMART PLAY SMART TOYS was nothing but the very best. There was a gender perspective in the writing where a child in the writing is referenced as "she" instead of as most books do, using "he". Despite that fact the overall content was diverse, well laid out, and simply captivating. In her own words, Dr. Toy summed it up so perfectly, "The book helps parents navigate the thousands of toy and play options available, offers tips on how to evaluate toy safety, and provides 160 activities that enhance PQ, (Play Quotient). It identifies gender-specific and age-appropriate toys, important craft supplies for playtime, and hundreds of ways to make play a life-long and nurturing experience. Dr. Toy's - SMART PLAY SMART TOYS scored a perfect score in this category.
DESIGN QUALITY: Rating Level 4 - The design quality with Dr. Toy's - SMART PLAY SMART TOYS is the very best you could ever expect with only a small minor concern. The book is a paperback with flaps that are made to last, yet can easily be damaged. The binding is solid and even after hours of the pages being turned back and forth from one end to the other, there was no real sign of wear and tear and minimal effect on the binding. Although Dr. Toy's - SMART PLAY SMART TOYS had incredible content, the paperback book factor did cause Dr. Toy's - SMART PLAY SMART TOYS to score just one digit short of perfect in this category.
DURABILITY: Rating Level 4 - The durability level with Dr. Toy's - SMART PLAY SMART TOYS was above average. It is paperback bound yet built to last with vivid colors that are quite captivating, yet the flaps are in question of risk from careless use of the book. Once again the only problem we could see was the fact of the materials used for the flaps being at too high of a risk of showing wear and tear. Dr. Toy's - SMART PLAY SMART TOYS got a score just one digit short of perfect in this category.
EDUCATIONAL VALUE: Rating Level 5 - The educational value with Dr. Toy's - SMART PLAY SMART TOYS was a not a tough one to determine. Dr. Toy's - SMART PLAY SMART TOYS is very well structured with parents able to navigate the thousands of toy and play options available. The book offers tips on how to evaluate toy safety, and provides 160 activities that enhance PQ, (Play Quotient). It identifies gender-specific and age-appropriate toys, important craft supplies for playtime, and hundreds of ways to make play a life-long and nurturing experience. Need I say more?
In all consumer hands-on evaluation feedback, Dr. Toy's - SMART PLAY SMART TOYS delivers a substantial contribution of stimulation to critical skills for greater learning and self-esteem improvement for individuals or groups, with an extended term legacy impact for children. In this case the educational content level is judged to nothing short of outstanding. Dr. Toy's - SMART PLAY SMART TOYS scores of "5" in this category.
READING RESPONSE: Rating Level 5 - The reading response associated with Dr. Toy's - SMART PLAY SMART TOYS was judged to be outstanding. The book delivers well thought out and proven content. It encourages long term and repetitive viewing without producing a sense of being redundant. Dr. Toy's - SMART PLAY SMART TOYS holds a very well balanced combination of quantitative information, an abundance of suggested resources, and overall content.
Our behavioral study specialist made us aware of how in every video tape, each person demonstrated a very strong evidence of impulsive response while reading the content of the book and going through the various exercises suggested. The exercises encourage a generous level of participation with all of the participants in the hands-on evaluation. Dr. Toy's - SMART PLAY SMART TOYS was another one of the favorites in our entire collection of products which have been inducted.
VISUAL APPEAL: Rating Level 3 - The visual appeal for Dr. Toy's - SMART PLAY SMART TOYS is great as far as the cover. With a colorful as well as striking design of imagery, the book draws strong attention to the cover and then of course induces a higher probability of purchase. Although the content was absolutely magnificent, the visual appeal was far less in reference to the content. It is an important fact to remember that the content of the book is powerful, enough to overshadow anything lacking in regard to the visual appeal of the book's content. The content is what sells the book, and holds the reader's attention so strongly, not the visual appeal alone. The scoring in this category is an average of "3".
| EVALUATION RESULTS - From evaluation for induction into "The Toy Man® Product Guide" | | Overall Rating: 4 | Seal of Approval: Approved | eco-Recognition
Seal: Not Eligible | Award of Excellence: Not Eligible | eChoice Award: Selected |
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